STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND VISION 2030, HON. WYCLIFFE AMBETSA OPARANYAH, DURING THE INAUGURATION OF THE NEW MEMBERSHIP OF THE POVERTY ERADICATION COMMISSIONERS AT UTALII COLLEGE, 18TH SEPTEMBER 2008

Commission Chairman
Economic Planning Secretary
Commissioners
Directors
Invited guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this inauguration/orientation workshop for the new members of the Poverty Eradication Commission appointed in early August, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen:

As you are aware nearly a half (46%) of our population was estimated in 2006 to still fall below the poverty line. Although this figure fell from a high of 56% in 2000, it is still very high considering that there are Kenyans who cannot afford the recommended minimal food and non food requirements for a dignified life.

The recent post election skirmishes and its consequences including the disruption of many economic activities, rising food and other commodity price have contributed to the number of Kenyans below the poverty line swelling at a higher rate. This situation is also worsened by the ongoing rise in world oil prices.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Eradication of absolute poverty has been very elusive since we attained independence, despite Governments efforts through policies, strategies and programmes to address the problem. Even many Non-governmental organizations including donor agencies and other stakeholders joined the war against this vice but as the figures still show, the prevailing levels of poverty are still very high. This means the war on poverty and the pursuit of other MDG goals remain a big challenge to our country. We must urgently find out why we are not making steady progress towards eliminating the problem and the institutions charged with these mandates must be strengthened and empowered to face the challenge.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Poverty Eradication Commission was created by the Kenya Government in 1999 in response to the UN resolution on eradicating poverty reached during the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) held in March 1995 in Copenhagen. In that summit, Governments reached a new consensus on the need to put people at the centre of development. It pledged to make the conquest of poverty, the goal of full employment and the fostering of social integration overriding objectives of development. This was revisited five years later (in 2000) with the formulation of the MDGs.

The Commission was given a wide mandate including overseeing the implementation of the National Poverty Eradication Plan (1999-2015), spearheading the fight against poverty through coordination of various poverty stakeholders, promotion of appropriate policies and strategies, promotion of a wide range of livelihood ventures, and piloting and demonstrating best practices of alleviating income poverty for replication by other stakeholders.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Since its inception in 1999, we have had two Commissions, one between 1999 – 2002 and another between 2004 – 2007.  Your team, which I recently appointed and was officially gazetted, is the third Commission.  I wish to congratulate you all on your appointment.  All of you have been appointed as leaders to assist Kenyans, particularly the poor, to improve on their livelihoods.  It is a daunting task given the challenges we are facing.  You must not only rise to the occasion, but must strive to ensure that we succeed.  I expect you to selflessly and diligently work as a team to deliver results to Kenyans.

The Commission has been piloting a number of strategies to tackle both infrastructure and income poverty.  These include the Area based approach, Revolving Loan Fund, Promotion of commercial smallholder farming and the legislation of the Anti Poverty Trust Fund.  These approaches have been adopted by the Government in the creation of the various devolved funds such as the Constituency Development Fund, Youth and the Women Enterprises Development Funds.

While the CDF is mainly targeting infrastructure projects, I would like to see the pilot Revolving Loan fund concept developed into a bigger fund that can fund various income generating activities by the poor, including Agricultural inputs.

The above strategies could not have been in place without the proper guidance of the outgoing Chairman and his team.  I therefore wish to acknowledge the able leadership of the outgoing Chairman, Dr. Gilbert Paul Oluoch, who tirelessly spearheaded the Commission achievements to-date.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am aware the Commission has been piloting the above strategies to tackle poverty with many challenges on its way including lack of legal and financial empowerment. Despite this, I am glad to note that the strategies piloted so far have proved to be successful and with direct benefits to the communities.

To Address these challenges, my ministry has recently put in place some mechanisms to strengthen the Commission.  First, the ministry has set up a task force with specific Terms of Reference to mainly come up with ways of re-engineering the Commission.  This Task Force will start its work on October 1st 2008 and work for a period of two months after which a report will be submitted to me.  Secondly, as this should be a working Commission which should not only attend quarterly board meetings, I am currently seeking ways on how to acquire more funds to facilitate the Commission’s work and up scale the existing pro-poor strategies.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In Kenya, there are various funds earmarked for the fight against poverty.  However, these funds are not properly coordinated and harmonized.  There are also cries from the real poor that these funds are not reaching them. I therefore put you to task to come up with ways and proposals on the harmonization of these funds to ensure that they are effectively targeted and are accessible and affordable to the poor and their impact felt.

Further, the fight against poverty requires collaborative approach.  In Kenya there are various stakeholders fighting poverty but working on stand alone basis.  These stakeholders are not properly coordinated.  I therefore would like you to seek ways of how these stakeholders can be properly coordinated rather than each and every stakeholder tackling poverty individually.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In conclusion, I am confident that your deliberations during this workshop have informed you on your expected roles and the need to be in the forefront to advise the government on the best pro-poor policies, strategies and programmes that will contribute significantly towards the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals.  Let me once again say that, to serve in this Commission, you need to be a person with passion, who should have the desire to serve people, be selflessness, have wisdom and humility.

With these few remarks, I wish you fruitful deliberation, and hereby declare the Commission officially inaugurated.

Thank you all.